"Can everyone be quiet for a moment and listen to me?"
Hot and Sour Noodles waited until the commotion quieted before continuing, "Right now, we have over 100 powerful guilds in Purple Grape City"s domain. This Nation War may be far more difficult than any of us can imagine. We must remain united if we are to win this, okay?"
Candlelight Shadow asked, "What are your thoughts, Zhang Chun?"
Hot and Sour Noodles thought for a moment before answering, "As mentioned earlier, many of us don"t share the same opinion. In that case, splitting up our army may be for the best. The first route to Purple Grape City is through Lost Forest, the ruined Ice River Canton, and Fallen Moon Ridge. The second route is through the Impa.s.sable Great Wall, Swallow Ear Canton, and Wildfire Plains. The third route is—actually, I shouldn"t suggest this because even I don"t think it"s a good idea."
Li Le, the guild leader of Flower Room stepped out and said, "Tell us anyway. Which route are you talking about?"
"It"s the one through Sunset Basin. The map is only a couple hundred kilometers wide, and with luck, the army can arrive at Purple Grape City in ten hours or earlier. It"s the fastest route for sure, but it"s also the most dangerous. Personally… I don"t suggest anyone use this route."
"Is that so?"
Li Le raised his eyebrows. "I think it"s a good route though. Sunset Basin is just a leveling map, and it leads straight to Purple Grape City! It would save so much scheming and plotting!"
I advised, "Li Le, you should reconsider this. Not even the locals, the j.a.panese, have explored the deepest depths of Sunset Basin yet. You"ll definitely run into trouble if you go through this route."
However, Lin Yixin grabbed my hand and said with a smile, "It"s fine, let them leave! It"s not like it will matter if they all die!"
"Lin Yixin, you!"
Li Le had always coveted Lin Yixin, and now, the woman of his dreams just shamed him in front of everyone. Unable to withstand the shame, he raised his sword and yelled, "I, Li Le, am a man who"s willing to do the extreme if it means being able to claim vengeance for our brethren! Remember the humiliation our brethren suffered at Floating Ice City? Remember the beautiful girls of Twelve Musicians who were ravaged again and again by those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!? This debt can only be repaid with blood, and if I must die in Sunset Basin to do so then so be it! Who else is willing to enter Sunset Basin with Flower Room?"
A commotion broke out for a couple of seconds. Then, four guild leaders stepped into the open. Their guilds were ranked somewhere between 50th and 200th rank. They weren"t particularly big or small. More importantly, they were all Flower Room"s allies.
"Young Master Le, we will march forth to Sunset Basin with you! Death is preferable to staying here and doing nothing!"
One of the guild leaders, an axe-wielding guy, shot me a challenging look and said, "Hmph, to think that a super guild of Sky City would act this cowardly. How shameful!"
I gritted my teeth but didn"t want to stoop to his level.
Lin Yixin though had no qualms pulling out her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and pointing it at the guy"s nose threateningly. "What did you just say? Care to repeat it? Purple Marquis, Nangong Lexi, ready the Kui Dragon Cavalry for an a.s.sault on the Nether Ring guild now!"
The guy immediately turned purple. "What… what is the meaning of this, Fruit Knife?"
She smiled. "I just hate people who make oblique accusations."
"Hmph!"
The man let out a cold snort before turning around and riding down the hill. Then, he raised his arm and called out, "Nether Ring and Flower Room have decided to enter Sunset Basin and launch a frontal a.s.sault on the j.a.panese! Anyone who wishes to take the fight to the enemy is free to join us!"
A lot of guilds were moved by the pa.s.sionate cry and moved to join Flower Room. Not only that, a laughing Li Le paid 5000 RMB to send out system announcement—
Ding~!
System Notice (Player Young Master Le Shout): The j.a.panese have humiliated us at Floating Ice City. Today, Flower Room will cross through Sunset Basin and strike at the hinterlands of Purple Grape City directly! If you are a man or woman of blood, join us! The mobs may be as powerful as the enemy is cunning, but together, we will show them the might of the Chinese!
……
Many hot-blooded guilds immediately took the bait and joined the army to attack Sunset Basin. Almost half of the army garrisoned beneath the hill and many of the Chinese players still emerging from White Rose Fortress right now joined up with them as well.
I stood on the hill and looked as far as I could. In just a moment, countless people had surged into Sunset Basin and vanished into the horizon.
"f.u.c.k…"
Hot and Sour Noodles opened his world map and stared at the sea of tiny black dots. "I did not expect this to happen. I understand his eagerness to prove himself, but this is just too much…"
Candlelight Shadow uttered through gritted teeth as well. "That motherf.u.c.ker took at least ten million players with him, and now there"s barely enough troops left for the rest of us! s.h.i.+t!"
Hot and Sour Noodles looked at the remaining guild leaders and vice leaders. "Well? Which route do you guys wish to follow?"
Warsky replied first. "I choose the Lost Forest route. We should be able to reach Purple Grape City sooner since Ice River Canton has already fallen. We can even post troops along the road and ambush the Indian players from Elephant City."
Candlelight Shadow also nodded. "Candle Dragon will follow this route as well!"
It didn"t take long for everyone to come to a decision. Soul Battle Robes, Pop Culture, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, Throne Seeker, Fate, Dirge of War, Thunder, Wings of Awakening, and Silver Soul all chose to advance to Purple Grape City through Lost Forest. Their reasoning was simple. Ice River Canton had already been destroyed by Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls" cavalry, so it was the path of least resistance.
……
While this was going on, I stared at the long defense fortification that sat in between the valleys at the horizon. The Impa.s.sable Great Wall was at least a hundred meters tall and too high for a basic siege tower to reach. The terrain was greatly advantageous toward the defenders, and a huge number of enemy super guilds were garrisoned there. It was obvious that they were planning to defend the fortification until the end.
"Sometimes some things have to be done."
I smiled a bit before declaring, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will be attacking the Impa.s.sable Great Wall!"
He Yi nodded.
Lin Yixin smiled wryly and said, "I knew it. Oh well, Snowy Cathaya chooses to attack the Impa.s.sable Great Wall as well. Let us crush their defense head-on!"
Stranger of Three Lifetimes, Luo River G.o.d of the Capital, Ling Xueshang and Indigo Collar all volunteered to attack the Impa.s.sable Great Wall. Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, Sword Lord of Jianghu, G.o.ds of Destruction and even Hot and Sour Noodles" Righteousness would be attacking it as well. The fortification must go because it was the umbrella of Purple Grape City, and there was nothing more demoralizing than to lose something you thought could never lose. We were all happy to hit Purple Grape City in the most painful way imaginable.
……
"Alright, let"s go! Make sure to stay in contact with one another, and don"t split up the army any further!" Hot and Sour Noodles said.
"Mn."
He Yi, Lin Yixin and I rode down the hill together. Our guilds were already waiting for us.
I looked to the horizon again. I could almost smell the scent of gunpowder in the air. Many j.a.panese players had given up on fighting us on the plains and withdrawn into the Impa.s.sable Great Wall already. Many more crushed their return scrolls outright and returned to Purple Grape City before teleporting to the Impa.s.sable Great Wall.
Lin Yixin raised her sword and ordered, "Kui Dragon Cavalry, we ride to the Impa.s.sable Great Wall at full speed! With luck, we may be able to seize the fortification in one go!"
Snowy Cathaya"s army abruptly split up to admit a troop of well-armored cavalry. Their mounts looked like iron bulls with earth dragon scales. They were of course the new cavalry Snowy Cathaya had spent many days creating, the Kui Dragon Cavalry. Led by Purple Marquis himself, all 12000+ Kui Dragon Cavalrymen charged toward the Impa.s.sable Great Wall as their beautiful guild leader commanded.
It was as good a time as any to march, so I also pointed my sword at the Impa.s.sable Great Wall and ordered, "Dragonlight Cavalry, we ride to the Great Wall!"
He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry stopped resting and mounted up. Together with Snowy Cathaya, Purple Lily, Blazing Hot Lips and everyone else"s cavalries, we rode toward the Impa.s.sable Great Wall like a storm.
……
The closer we got to the fortification, the colder the weather became. In fact, I could see that the upper part of the fortification was frozen in ice. Even if we managed to climb to the top somehow, the walls could be too slippery to hold onto. Anyway, we all received a system notice after we pa.s.sed through the border—
Ding~!
System Notice: You have entered the Impa.s.sable Great Wall"s domain!
Map Description: The Impa.s.sable Great Wall is a super fortification built by the kind and hardworking eastern hill dwarves during the Ice Age to repel the devils. Over tens of kilometers in length, the structure connects Sunset Basin and Frost Flame Mountain Range together. The area around the Impa.s.sable Great Wall is unnaturally cold because it was built atop a Source of Ice. Just by pouring clear water onto the stones, the dwarves were able to create an ice fortress of unimaginable toughness in a single night. The Impa.s.sable Great Wall has never fallen to any invader since its creation.
……
It wasn"t long before we caught up to the Purple Grape City players who failed to escape to the Great Wall in time. A contribution point saved is a contribution point earned, so of course I acted to kill them.
Crack!
First, I cut a magic knight"s s.h.i.+eld in half with the Purple Ying Sword and killed him with a basic attack. Without pause, I rode up to 4 archers next and one-shot them with Burning Blade Slash.
Riding parallel to me were my comrades—He Yi, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon and more—and Snowy Cathaya"s Lin Yixin, Purple Marquis, Lifetaking Sword. Everyone was charging and killing with impunity until we finally reached the foot of the fortification.
A hint of astonishment flashed across Li Chengfeng"s eyes as he looked up. "f.u.c.k, this wall has got to be 100 meters tall at least. Not even our archers can Far Shot all the way up there. What should we do?"
I pointed at the gate not far away from our position. "It"s simple! We just need to breach that hundred-meter-wide gate!"
Xu Yang sucked at his teeth. "Easy for you to say! That d.a.m.n gate is at least 5 meters thick! Can you breach it?"
I replied with a serious nod, "Of course not…"
Lin Yixin rolled her eyes. "Not the time for jokes, people. The gate"s closing…"
"f.u.c.k…"